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J. NL'EDGARQ' INDICATOR LOCK.

Patented Jan. 2, 1894.

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TH NATIONAL LITHOGRAFHING CDMPANY,

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UNITED STATES JOSEPH M. EDGAR, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO JOHN Z. RORABAOK, OF SAME PLACE.

INDICATOR-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,169, dated January2,1894.

Appnmion inea May i2. 189s.

To all whom t may concern;

Beit known that I, JOSEPH M. EDGAR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Door I-Iasp-Shackles,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of fastenersemployed on the doors of freight cars; not, however, so much for thepurpose of preventing a door, to -which the device is applied, frombeing opened, as to insure detection of the fact of its having beentampered with to permit opening of the door, by its showing evidence ofsuch tampering. The device belongs to an entirely dierent class to anyfor which patents have been heretofore secured by me. Thoughmypresentimprovement is adapted to have used with it a paper seal, itdepends for its function, mainly, on the automatic operation of aregister, and is in the nature of a self registering haspshackle,intended to take the place of the ordinary seal-locks, registering orcombination locks andpadlocks forthe protection of freight car and otherdoors.

Of the various features of novelty in my present invention, there aretwo leading ones, which I desire to claim as being generically new. Therst of these relates to the device forming a receptacle for a desirednumber (preferably two or more) of blocks loosely fitting therein andprovided with characters eX- posed to view in the shackle in itsoperative position, whence to remove it requires that it be tiltedendwise sufficiently to displace the blocks from their indicatingpositions, which they assume again, on readj usting the shackle intosuch operative position, but in diiferent relations as to theircharacters, whereby replacement of the device, after unfastening thedoor, will cause the shackle to show, by the different relation of thecharacters, evidence of the manipulation. The other of the leadingfeatures referred to consists in the angular and preferably cube form ofthe blocks, having the several characters on the dierent sides providedwith them (and each of the faces is, preferably, thus provided) soarranged that those exposed to view will ap- Serial No. 473,977. (Nomodel.)

pear in upright position while those not exposed to view will be out ofsuoli upright position.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure l is aperspective view of myimproved device showing it, by way of diagram, as operatively applied insecuring a hasp over a staple. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional viewof the fastening device as it appears in operation, the section beingtaken at the line 2 on Fig. l and viewed in the direction of the arrow.Fig. 3, is a view in rear elevation of the latchcase with the details itcontains removed and in which the shackle is engaged and sealed at itslower end. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the latch-case with the pivotallatch in place. Fig. 5 is a similar View of a keeper for the latch inthe latch-case. Fig. 6 is a section taken at the line 6 on Fig. l andviewed in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 7 is aperspective view,enlarged, of one of the character-blocks, or cubes, showing thecharacters arranged thereon in a manner to accomplish the purposehereinbefore referred to.

The parts of my device are the shackle, comprising a casing A, forming areceptacle containing blocks B, having characters on their sides exposedthrough the open face of the casing; a hook ron one end of the casing tobe passed, from underneath, through a staple q on a car-door (no-tshown) to fasten a hasp p; a catch o projecting backward from the rearside of a lower-end extension n of the casing provided with an opening maording a seat for a seal C of some material, such as card-board, whichmay be readily punctured with a pointed instrument, as a knife, nail, orthe like; and a latch covered by the lowerend extension of the casing inengaging the catch o thereon and accessible, for releasing the casing,only through the seal seat m.

The shackle A may be a casting and is formed with an expanded chamber Atoward one end (the upper in the operative position of thedevice), fromwhich the forwardprojecting hook 0^ extends. The chamber A opens into anelongated chamber A2, of the form in cross-section, and about thediameter, of a block B, thus rectangular in cross-section if the blocksbe cubes, as they preferably are.

IOO

Through the front side of the casing, which should be removable, theblocks B are visible, preferably through openings Z, covered underneathwith glass Zt, or other transparent medium, and provided in verticalseries, one for each block, and of such size and in such position as todisplay through each only one corner on a block behind it having thechai'- acters arranged upon it in the manner hereinafter described.

The latch-device D illustrated comprises a housing D', which may be openat its back, and adapted to be secured in place, as on the door or frameof the car, through eyes t; the front side of the housing, however,being covered, and having, in the lower end of its cover, an opening 7i.through which to admit the catch o on the lower-end extension n of thecasingA, and, above the catch-opening h, another opening g coincidingwith the seal-seat opening m, for a purpose hereinafter explained.Within the housing D is a pivotal latch D2, held in place by a suitablekeeper D3, and tending, by gravity, to fall into the position ofcovering the opening Zt, where it engages the catch o vihen insertedtherein, and to release which requires that the seal C be punctured nearits lower right-hand corner by any instrument thence passed into thecase D through the opening g, where it will enter under the latch D2 andpermit the latter to be raised on its pivot to free the catch o.Obviously, however, by puncturing the seal, the latteris so defaced asto show that the shackle has been tampered with. Thus the seal, though asecondary feature in my improvement, forms the primary means ofprotection against opening the shackle. This primary release of thecasing A, however, does not, of itself, unfasten the door, but merelypermits the same to be unfastened on turning the casing A endwise upsidedown to enable the hook r to be withdrawn from the staple q and free thehasp p; but thus inverting or tilting the casing spills or throws thecubes from the chamber A2 into the expanded chamber A and disarranges`them so that, were the device again adjusted into operative position,with a view to covering up the fact of its having been tampered with,the purpose will be defeated by the cubes, in falling by gravity againinto the chamber A2, assuming relative positions causing a differentseries of characters on them to be displayed at the openings Z, whichwill be detected on comparison with the record kept of the first orauthentic series thereof.

The arrangement of the characters (preferablyletters and numbers) on thecube B involves the provision, preferably, of four on each face, one ineach corner, placed successively at right-angles to each other, wherebyWhichever side of the cube forms its base, the

character on the upper left hand corner, which is the one displayed atan opening Z, will be in an upright position.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a register hasp shackle of the character described, thecombination of a casing, having an enlarged interior toward 'one end andhavingwits narrower interior portion open to the inspection of itscontents, and blocks provided with characters on their faces, andfitting in sequence within the narrower` portion, whereby tilting thecasing endwise in one direction throws the blocks into the enlargedportion of the interior, thereby disarranging them, and thereby tiltingthe casing in the contrary direction throws them in sequence into itsnarrower portion, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a register hasp shackle of thecharacter described, the combinationof acasin'g containing a block-chamber through a .side of which itscontents are visible and opening into another chamber in the device, andmeans on the casing for fastening it on the securing mechanism of adoor, whereby separation from said mechanism of the casing involvestilting of the latter and consequent throwing of the blocks from theblock-chamber into and their disarrangement in the said other chamber,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a register hasp shackle of the character described, thecombination of a casing having an elongated block-chamber toward oneend, open to the inspection of its contents, and a wider chamber towardits opposite end, at which is provided a hook i", a catch o on anextension n of the casing, an openingmforming a seal-seat in saidextension, and a latchdevice to engage the catch o and fasten the casingand having its latch accessible through the said seal-seat, the wholebeing constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

Il. A block B, for use in a register hasp shackle of the characterdescribed, comprising a cube having characters in the corner portions ofits faces, arranged, in succession about each face provided therewith,at or approxi- IOO IIO

mately at right-angles to eachother, substan- JOSEPH M. EDGAR;

In presence of WM. ELBERT, JNO. Z. RORABACK.

